Kumo no ue mo kurashi kanekeru haru no hi o tokorogara to mo nagametsuru kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

雲の上も暮らしかねける春の日を
所がらともながめつるかな

Roma-ji: Kumo no ue mo kurashi kanekeru haru no hi o tokorogara to mo nagametsuru kana
English Translation: That long day of spring
which above the clouds as well
was so hard to pass,
I gazed on in thought, believing
it was owing to this place
Meaning: That long spring day, which you too found so hard to pass above the clouds, I spent gazing out in thought, supposing it was only because of where I was.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 967

Headnote: "Reply"
This is Sei Shōnagon's reply to the preceding poem, 966. The spring day that you too could hardly pass above the clouds I spent gazing out, thinking it was because of where I was, she says. Taking up the Empress's words, she says that she too could hardly pass the day at home, and had thought it was the fault of the place, but it was the same at court; thus she modestly conveys that she too had longed for the Empress.
The author, "Sei Shōnagon," was the daughter of Kiyohara no Motosuke. She served Emperor Ichijō's empress Teishi and wrote the miscellany The Pillow Book. She is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals of the Middle Ages, and a poem of hers is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
This poem forms an exchange with the preceding poem, 966, answering its "kurashi wazurau" with "kurashi kanekeru."

First line, "kumo no ue mo": "kumo no ue," above the clouds, means the palace, "at court as well."
Second line, "kurashi kanekeru": "you could hardly pass the day." It takes up "kurashi wazurau" in the fourth line of the preceding poem, 966.
Third line, "haru no hi o": "the long spring day," slow to darken.
Fourth line, "tokorogara to mo": "tokorogara" means owing to the place, "thinking that my being unable to pass the day was because of being at home."
Fifth line, "nagametsuru kana": "nagamu" means to gaze absently, lost in thought, and "kana" is exclamatory, "how I gazed out in thought."
Author: Sei Shōnagon
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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